Extrusion processes are commonly used in a variety of different industries, and with a multitude of different types and grades of material, for forming and shaping these materials into articles.
Extruded products, whether plastic, metal or some other material, are often uniform in color. In some cases, the extruded products are formed of several layers of material, including one or more visible, outer layers and one or more hidden, inner layers, where these layers may differ in color.
In today's competitive market place, it is important for companies to have an edge that distinguishes their product from a competitor's product. One way to create a product that distinguishes itself from a competitor's product is to provide the product with an aesthetically pleasing and/or original appearance. Consumers are typically attracted to products having a visually appealing look.
In the field of extruded products, one method for giving the end products a visually appealing look is to create special color effects in the material of the product. Existing methods for producing color effects in extruded material, such as plastic for example, include lamination techniques, wherein multiple different layers of colored material are joined together to form a multi-colored sheet, and imprinting techniques wherein an imprinted film is adhered to the material. Unfortunately, these processes require treating the material after it has been extruded and formed. This can be both costly and time consuming.
Other methods, such as the one described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 7,204,944, allow producing color effects in the form of color bands in the extruded material by combining flows of viscous material of multiple colors during the extrusion process to form a stream of viscous material characterized by bands of different colors. The contents of the aforementioned document are incorporated herein by reference. While approaches of the type described above may allow creating extruded material having a pleasing and original visual appearance, the visual effects that may be produced tend to be limited. In order to attract the attention of consumers, it is desirable to create a variety of original color effects in extruded materials include some that may differ from those that may be created by methods of the type proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,204,944.
As such, a need exists in the industry to provide methods for producing visually appealing color effects in extrudable material, such as plastic and metal.